A Love Letter to Sirius the Jaeger

I don’t think there’s a good way to describe my fascination with Sirius the Jaeger. Actually. That’s a lie. There is a very simple way to: OBSESSION. But not in the, it’s all I can think about way. Obsession like, I care a lot about it. See, I found this when it came out last year and had instantly thought “here we go again.” Another anime about vampire hunting. Except it was more than that. It was about werewolves (sirius’) as well as vampires, and it was about brothers and family.

I’ll say, it’s one of my absolute favorite shows to watch during October. It’s got a semi-spook vibe to it. An almost gothic but not quite fully realized feel. The animation is on point and the music is excellent. And the storyline. By gods and goddesses, the STORYLINE. What some might perceive as weaker storytelling, I find myself praising for the way it handles its plot. Sirius the Jaeger could’ve easily fell into a typical, long-lasting shounen anime about finding the Ark of Sirius and then what Yuliy could’ve done with it. Hell, it could’ve had arc after arc of him running into vampires and hunting them, giving his fellow Jaegars random storylines, and throwing him into new and weird situations EASILY. But this anime didn’t go that route. No, instead it contained itself within 12 episodes and decided that there was something more important than simply finding the ark, and that something important was Yuliy and Mikhail.

Yuliy and Mikhail were EVERYTHING. They were brothers torn apart by sacrifice. Brothers who were on opposite sides of a fight. But two brothers who cared about each other more than anything else. We see time and time again that these two brothers can’t really bear to fight each other properly, and we never see them come head to head in all-out to the death battle (like I’m sure many other stories would opt for). Mikhail, though technically a vampire, is always out there looking out for his younger brother. Likewise, Yuliy never gives up on Mikhail. Their relationship is so touching and so TRAGIC. But it’s really their plot that brings this show through for me. There came a time I didn’t even give a fork if they found the arc of the Sirius. I just cared about whether or not the brothers could be happy (Spoiler alert—they couldn’t). I just love a good story about family and friends.

Sirius the Jaeger was not a perfect anime. It was a short anime. It had plot holes, an open-ending, and side characters who weren’t fully realized. Sirius the Jaeger could have been so much more, and at times I wish it was. But at the end of the day, Sirius the Jaeger was about Yuliy. And he was delightful. So that’s why when the moon is low and October is upon us, I find myself re-watching it and writing my love letter to Sirius the Jaeger.